Best Practices for Co-Teaching and Teaching with an Assistant
One of the best ways to raise student achievement is through high quality co-teaching with a co-teacher or assistant. Gain practical guidance on applying effective models to your classroom so that you can incorporate station-based learning, observation time and small group instruction.
Margaret Searle
Margaret Searle is the founder of Searle Enterprises, a consultant group working in the areas of collaboration, problem-solving, and innovative teaching techniques. She regularly presents at conferences nationally and works with individual school districts to develop and implement continuous improvement plans. She has taught in all grades from kindergarten through 8th grade. Her background also includes serving as a Title I director, a middle school principal, an elementary principal, and a K-12 supervisor. She served as president of the Ohio Association of Elementary School Administrators and was as an education advisor to President George H. W. Bush.Searle is the author of the Ohio Department of Education's Standards-Based Instruction for All Learners: A Treasure Chest for Principal-led Building Teams (2004), a how-to book on differentiation, inclusion, and collaborative problem-solving. Her second book, What To Do When You Don't Know What To Do: Building a Pyramid of Interventions (2007), describes a step-by-step method for diagnosing causes of troublesome issues and provides guidelines for actively involving parents and students in problem-solving. Her third book, Response to Intervention: What Every School Leader Needs To Know About RTI (2010) and the companion DVD on secondary school RTI interventions are practical guides for teachers and administrators who want to build a culture of data-driven decision making supported by research-based interventions. Causes and Cures in the Classroom: Getting to the Root of Academic and Behavior Problems (2013) reveals new neurological research about how underdeveloped executive function skills can cause poor behavior and achievement and gives specific strategies for addressing these problems. Searle's most recent book, Teacher Teamwork: How Do We Make It Work? shows how to build productive teams and intentionally create an environment of professional engagement in your school.
